Shanghai Grand by Taras Grescoe

I continue my study of China with this fascinating book, an in depth review of Shanghai - the Paris of Asia in the years leading up to World War II. 

The book tells the story of Emily “Mickey” Hahn, an American writer, adventurer and flapper, who moves to Shanghai in 1935. 

It also features the story of Sir Victor Sassoon, a British tycoon from India, who builds an empire in Shanghai, including the Cathay Hotel, alluded to in the book’s title. 

In fact, the book tells the story of dozens more figures of intrigue, who each reflect the glamour, boldness, depravity and vivacity of 1930s Shanghai. 

This unique genre of storytelling - uncovering a unique time and place in history - through mini biographies of its peoples - intrigues me. It’s a wonderful way to tell history. 

China is a massive subject no matter how you reckon it. But I’m starting to get my hooks into it with books like this. 

An Introduction to Confucianism by Xinzhong Yao

At times a tough read, at times a pure joy, this book provided me with a solid, intro level overview of Confucianism, a hugely important topic for my understanding of Chinese culture.

Red Sorghum by Mo Yan

What an interesting book.

Red Sorghum tells the story of a rural Chinese family, centered on the devastating period of the Japanese invasion of China in the 1930s.

It brings to life the brutal reality of that war, sometimes in gruesome detail.  Before Red Sorghum I had never read a detailed account of the skinning of a living man.

The book uses the sorghum plants that are ubiquitous in this region as a metaphor for human perseverance through the most unimaginable horrors.  The village in which the story takes place is surrounded by sorghum, using it in endless ways, as food, fuel, medicine, disinfectant, shelter and more.

The sorghum endures the brutality of the war just as do the humans in the story, getting mowed down by gunfire, absorbing the blood and entrails of humans and animals.  But the sorghum always comes back, just as the people do, no matter the devastation.

Red Sorghum also depicts the moral ambiguity of humans in warfare, with few pure heroes in the story.  Perhaps exaggerating for effect, it tells a very real story of both the fragility, and the endurance of humanity.

China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty by Mark Edward Lewis

I'm winding down on this book, part three in a series of six, in the effort to speed up my study of China in advance of our planned trip in the Fall of 2027.

Although a bit dry in writing style, I appreciate the broad approach of each book in this series, covering both the military/political and the cultural history of each dynasty.

I particularly like the treatments of both city and rural life in China as separate domains.

I'm using this series to form a broad outline of imperial China from a macro level before diving deeper into specific areas of interest that cut across dynasties.

I'm particularly interested to study the primary religions of China.  I've studied Buddhism at some length, but very little on Confucianism, and virtually nothing on Daoism.

The Tang, considered a highwater mark in the cultural history of China, along with its cosmopolitanism, as reflected in the book's title, are worth of deeper exploration on its own.

Much, much more reading to come on China over the next 18 months.

On Persephone's Island: A Sicilian Journal by Mary Taylor Simeti

This journal by American expat Mary Taylor Simeti chronicles a year in her life in Sicily.  Married to a Sicilian and with two children, they live the fanciful life of those who ponder moving to a Mediterranean idyll.  The journal tells her story some twenty years into her life in Sicily, set in the early 1980s.

Splitting their year between the aging beauty of Palermo and the rustic fecundity of their small, but working, farm nearby, life vacillates between the solemn ritual of Sicilian festivals, familial joy, corrupt government, Mafia killings and sweet ennui.

Simeti ponders her life as that of Persephone, lost between two worlds, not quite American, but not quite Sicilian.

Life on the farm, not surprisingly, surrounds them with fauna, something that Simeti glories in.  And although I am ignorant of such things, it underscores the importance of Sicily to ancient Rome as a primary breadbasket.  

Thought not a travel book, it chronicles family outings to some of the island's most popular destinations, fortunately from the perspective of someone who knows her classics and the literature of the island.  Palermo, Segesta, Trapani, Erice, Ortigia, Enna and many more receive their due, in a fashion not found in any travel books that I know.

The book sets a certain tone to our upcoming trip to Sicily, presenting a comprehensive, real life 20th century view on what to expect, the good, the bad and the glorious.

The Greek Epic Cycle and it's Ancient Reception

This was a joy.  Thanks to books like this I'm digging deeper into Greek mythology than I ever would have anticipated.

My main takeaway is the vastness of the corpus of Greek epic.  

We know it centered on Homer and his Iliad and Odyssey.  But as this study underscores, although those two works were the shining stars, they were a tiny portion of the sum total.

And I just can't say enough about these Cambridge companion books as I read more and more of them.  They dig so much deeper than anything else I've read; they challenge me, occasionally leaping far over my head, but mostly pull me further into these fascinating topics.

And now for something completely different, we are starting to talk about visiting China in the fall of 2027, which has deep implications for my reading over the next 18 months.  Very exciting.  More to come!

Archimedes, Fulcrum of Science by Nicholas Nicastro

The book was fine, but perhaps it's misleading to even write a full-length book about a figure for whom so little is known.  With the dearth of sources, Nicastro was forced to write at length about the time in which Archimedes lived, the people who he associated with, and events from his age, without much evidence of his actual life.

And unfortunately this resulted in a larger dose of speculation than I would normally expect in a biography.

Anyhow, Archimedes was a great man whose modern reputation is muted as compared to his actual influence on science and the progress of civilization.

Onward.